William James
William James
William Jameswas an American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, James was one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced, while others have labelled him the "Father of American psychology". Along with Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey, he is considered to be...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth11 January 1842
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
William James quotes about
Anything you may hold firmly in your imagination can be yours.
Man lives by habits indeed, but what he lives for is thrill and excitements. ... From time immemorial war has been ... the supremely thrilling excitement.
Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism.
All our scientific and philosophic ideals are altars to unknown gods.
Why may we not be in the universe, as our dogs and cats are in our drawingrooms and libraries?
Truth happens to an idea
It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.
Tell him to live by yes and no - yes to everything good, no to everything bad.
Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.
In the dim background of mind we know what we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start.
If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear.
Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom.
The deepest longing in the human breast is the desire for appreciation.